Becoming an Autobot
by MISCrasyaboutfanfics
Summary: The story of how Peaches first became an Autobot, as told by herself and Optimus Prime, who became not only her leader but a father figure . Basically how the book the 2 were writing at the end of "Our continuing story" would be written.
1. Chapter 1

Like father, like daughter

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers; just Peaches, Abby, Crystal, Aaron, Tyler and Silver Dollar.

(Optimus Prime's POV)

When one is suddenly thrust with responsibility, it is a difficult thing to deal with. That includes taking care of a young teenager, as I found out nearly 2 years ago. Peaches used to be a handful when I started to train her to become an Autobot and not to be hard on herself if she messed up something. It is hard for me to believe that she is now a mother of 5 as well as having a sparkmate and a dog.

I suppose one could argue that it started the day she had arrived at NEST base needing medical attention after unintentionally getting caught in the middle of a battle against Decepticons, had nearly attacked her parents for lying to her about her origin for many years after waking up from her surgery, getting kidnapped and then rescued. After said rescue, she made her decision to be trained to be an Autobot and that I believe is when the story of how I became a substitute family member to her began…

(Peaches' POV)

The night after my parents went back home was a very lonely one. I felt like I was 7 instead of 17 and a little scared of what I'd discover next about the species I really was. I had already had my first taste of energon, which wasn't that bad, and then had done a few push-ups for Ironhide to prove that I could take the toughness that training to be an Autobot would involve. By a few push ups, I mean 40 of them; Ratchet objected to me doing 400 with good reason and the weapons specialist had reluctantly agreed to let me stop at a lower number. Still, he was impressed and I had somehow gotten the idea in my head that every other Autobot needed to be impressed as well and would be tough to do so.

It wasn't what I was thinking about when I sat on the beach as I would unknowingly do many times during the next year that N.E.S.T. was stationed on Diego Garcia. Boy, it's very nice to be on an island at least, I thought to myself, but why should I feel worth it to share it with those who actually grew up where I really came from when I had not? I was in my human form now just because I was used to it and saying out loud "I wonder what it would have been like if I had actually been raised there" referring to Cybertron.

I did not notice Optimus Prime coming up behind me until I heard him say "Don't mourn the past Peaches; you can only change the future".

I have no idea why I was all of a sudden comfortable with talking to Optimus but assured him that yes, I know the past is irreversible and we continued talking for a few more minutes. I did not understand what he meant when he said that the lessons I had to learn would come to me when the time is right back then but I do now. As it was, some of these lessons were very tough yet I always had my new adopted human/Autobot family and team to help me through it, even when I sometimes tried to argue that I didn't need their help when I was upset enough to.

Through it all though, I think it was Optimus who helped me the most even before I realized we had a bond similar to but not exactly like that of a creator and sparkling that some Cybertronians have/had. This is our story of how I began to get to know him and other Autobots and how we managed to pull through the rest of the war with the Decepticons. I felt it needed to be shared with you humans because you're not the only ones who have feelings even though you sometimes think we're just machines…


	2. Chapter 2

Like father, like daughter chapter 2

(Peaches' POV)

The next morning when I woke up, I immediately went to get breakfast before transforming to robot mode and then going to train with Ironhide for 2 hours, after which I would have to do my regular schoolwork I still had to do as a human despite the fact that I didn't see the point of graduating human high school anymore. The schoolwork itself wasn't so hard; Ironhide's training was.

"Come on Peaches, I know you know how to aim." He said in a frustrating tone of voice when I missed the target for the 4th time in a row when shooting things on the shooting range.

I tried again; this time I got it.

"Excellent; you're doing a bit better than I expected." He said.

"Thank you sir" I replied, a bit surprised at his comment.

"Don't expect compliments like that all the time though." Ironhide stated in a serious tone of voice.

After some more shooting of targets that looked like Decepticons, I went to get my human school work done before going to lunch. Said schoolwork and eating lunch wasn't difficult; it was finding my way to an empty room where Optimus Prime was going to give me a lesson about Cybertronian history that was that difficult since I was still learning my way around NEST base.

"Am I late?" I asked nervously when I finally got there.

"No Peaches, you are not late; you are actually a minute early." He replied. "You may sit down and we will get started with your first lesson."

I didn't say anything; I just sat down and listened as he related a bit of Cybertronian folklore and history about the 13 Primes. I was a little bit interested in it you could say but getting used to what I really was, physically and mentally, well I just wasn't even close and I wondered if I was even worthy enough to be trained as an Autobot.

The next lesson was in the medbay and Ratchet gave me a daigram showing Cybertronian anatomy to study and began explaining how important energon was.

"Does this mean I have to stop eating my favorite foods when in my human form?" I asked.

"Certainly not; when you're in your human form, it is transformed into the energon and other fluids that can be used in your robot mode whereas an actual human would digest the food." the green and white medic explained to me.

I sighed with relief and started to get hungry for a snack; a few minutes later, I was allowed to go get one and sat down next to Jolt before drinking my energon cube.

"Hello." I said as I got an energon cube and sat down next to him.

"Hey Peaches, how's everything going so far today?"

"It's both good and bad but mostly good." I said to the blue mech.

Jolt simply nodded. "It's always a good idea to focus on the positive, weird as that may sound on a planet with a lot of negative attitudes."

The rest of the day went fine; I got to watch Sideswipe and Ironhide spar in the training room to see what it was like, I got to walk around outside briefly before dinner that night and I got some more studying done; two days after that was a slightly different story, one I'd rather have Optimus tell since it's too embarassing to remember...

(Optimus Prime's POV)

Though there's a little bit less of a problem for Cybertronians to discuss love making, for the sake of the human readers I will not go into a lot of details. What I will say is that Elita and I were taking the day off per Ratchet's orders and alone in our own quarters when Peaches inadverdently walked in on us. She quickly ran off when realizing what she had done.

Elita was to put it lightly, pissed off. "Primus, can't a bot knock before interrupting us?!"

"Elita, she did not mean to do so." I told her. "Peaches is still learning her way around the base."

"I suppose you are right but still-" she started to say before getting cut off by me.

"We'll find her and see what this is all about." I reassured my sparkmate.

It turned out to be an honest mistake as Peaches had gone the wrong way when looking for Prowl's office and she was in tears as she was apologizing. She was forgiven of course and promised not to interrupt something like that again unless Decepticons were attacking. While Elita went with Peaches to explain Cybertronian intimacy, I went back inside, wondering if Peaches was going to be able to go through just one day without messing up.

"Prime, you can't expect her to be perfect." Ratchet said when I told him what had happened. "She doesn't even know how to use her comlink yet; I'll have to teach her that next."

"Perhaps you are correct old friend." I told him. "She remeinds me very much of myself when I was younger."

I began remembering my time studying under my old mentor Sentinel Prime and I had asked him "Where do sparklings come from?" I was roughly around 12 human years old at the time and had never had it explained to me before. Sentinel had seemed surprise that I had asked that but he did explain "the nuts and bolts" as Cybertronians would call "the talk"; years later he told me how important it was not to worry about who my sparkmate would be; I would know when the time was right.

In the then present day, I started walking back to my quarters to be with Elita, in an attempt to try to make tonight better than this morning. When I got there, I asked "What is Peaches doing right now?"

"She's studying in her quarters right now; I explained the nuts and bolts to her and she seemed to take it well although I did have to make her swear not to tell any humans and explain that it takes time to know when you wish for someone to be your sparkmate." Elita told me.

"That is good to know." I smiled a bit despite havng nearly lost my dignity that day and went to lock the door. Elita and I were able to get our time together, this time with no interruptions, although soon I would be spending tiem with Peaches as she advanced through each of the stages of her training...


	3. Chapter 3

Very similar but very different

(Peaches' POV)

It amazed me how similar my real species was and yet so different from the humans that I grew up with. I never felt like I should have been born on another planet or anything when I was younger; I just felt like many other kids who felt like they didn't fit in at times. Right now I was studying the stuff that had been given to me about Cybertronian anatomy from Ratchet; it had been a week since I had accidentally interrupted my leader and his sparkmate's "alone time" and we had agreed not to speak of it again and somehow I wasn't completely mentally scarred for life. The reason for this was because of my human dad; he was willing to explain stuff to me that my human mom wouldn't approve of me knowing but both agreed that they would rather have me learn about some things, such as sex and drugs, at home and not at school. I think that was one of the main reasons why I supposedly was weird according to the other kids but I'm not 100 percent sure; I haven't had contact with them for a long time.

Where was I? Oh yes, studying what Ratchet had given me. The names of some the parts on a Cybertronian were a bit difficult to remember especially when there wasn't one similar to what a human had but for the most part, I was slowly but surely getting it right; Ratchet had already taught me about a Cybertronian's processor and this week I was going to learn a bit about sparks but not spark-bonding since Elita One had already explained that to me and then later maybe, I would learn about other things related to Cybertronian intimacy. Lucky for Ratchet, i was mature to not laugh about that kind of subject when it came up unlike my high school classmates in my biology class the previous year, who giggled when the teacher talked about sexual reproduction but that's another story for a different book.

"Peaches, it is time for you to recharge." someone said after walking in.

I turned around and saw Arcee; I hadn't interacted with her, Chromia and Elita One that much but I knew that off the battlefield, she was pretty nice. "Sorry Arcee; I just caught up with my studying."

"You will have time to do more of that tomorrow after I train you a bit." Arcee replied.

"You're kidding me." I dropped my papers in shock.

The pink femme 'bot picked up said papers and put them on my Autobot-sized desk; I was still in robot mode and in fact hadn't transformed into my human mode that much, except when I wanted to get cleaned up. Yes, it was sad that I felt that I couldn't shower with femmes of my own species in the wash racks and yet didn't mind showering with human women.

Arcee took me out of those thoughts when she said "I am not kidding; Ironhide thought it would do you some good and Optimus and Prowl agreed with him."

"Very well; good night." I said. I then climbed onto the recharge berth and powering down for the night.

I heard Arcee close the door to my quarters behind her when she went out but not much else happened that night although I was dreaming about comfort food, specifically doughnuts, soft pretzels, and French fries. Ratchet of course would have been horrified if I told him that but I didn't. Unfortunately, telling anyone about the next incident that upset me greatly was something I had to do even if I didn't want to.

(Optimus Prime's POV)

I was more furious than anything else when I heard Peaches scream; I had thought it was a Decepticon that scared her but that wasn't so. The young femme was in her human form and apparently had attempted to fight off the advances of one of the human men on base; she was being held against the wall and he was groping her.

"Back off." I growled. Peaches wasn't my mate but it was my duty as a Prime to protect unbonded femmes from forced bonding or interfacing if I came across that type of situation just as I would protect Elita One.

Said attacker immediately stopped what he was doing and was scared enough to be taken in for questioning without incident.

"Peaches, are you all right?" I immediately asked, concern filling my voice.

"No and I don't want to talk about it." She replied, lacing her voice with anger to cover up the fear that she had.

"I will listen if you decide to change your mind." I said reassuringly as I put a hand on her shoulder.

Peaches immediately pulled away from me and transformed into her robot mode before going to train with Arcee; despite everything, the report I had gotten later said that she had done somewhat well despite not being able to focus and she was currently eating human junk food for lunch according to Jolt. I saw her walk out of the cafeteria at dinner with a plate full of 2 hot dogs, chips, cookies, and 2 cans of Pepsi. Ratchet had informed me that those things were not good to consume in excessive quantities. She sat down where she was in the hallway and ate everything on the plate but before she could drink the Pepsi, Ratchet's holoform immediately appeared and took one can of it away from her.

"At least I still have this; you can't take both of them away from me." She drank the other can of Pepsi, much to Ratchet's shock and then went to put it in the recycling before transforming into her robot mode and then going into her quarters and slamming the door behind her.

I stood there in shock and was not sure of what to do.

"Prime, do you know what she just ate?!" my medic shouted.

"Things that the humans would think of as 'comfort food'." I replied.

"And that's not going to help her very well with coping with this." Ratchet explained to me. "You're going to have to have either yourself or Jolt talk to her ASAP; she can't let today's incident bother her even if it will take her some time to move on from it as well as counseling."

"What has happened is not something that can easily be forgotten about if at all." Elita One pointed out. "It disgusts me that humans are so obsessed with interfacing."

"You are correct Elita; Peaches will need counseling and time to move past what has happened. Hopefully, she will talk to us soon." I agreed.

It was my hope that "soon" would be very soon; Peaches and anyone else who had gone through that kind of experience or one similar to it should not and do not have to suffer in silence...


	4. Chapter 4

Becoming an Autobot chapter 4

Peaches' POV

I didn't come out of my room that night; I just cursed guys who couldn't think with their head instead of their private parts before falling asleep. The next morning at about 4:00 a.m. I awoke and started walking the halls before I ran into Jolt and fell on my rear end.

"Sorry." I muttered.

The blue Autobot helped me to my feet and said "It's all right Peach; is there anything you want to talk about?

"No." I lied.

"Peaches, stop. I know you're lying." Jolt told me.

I expressed shock that he could sense that. "How do you know that?"

"I'm a medic; it's what I do." he explained.

Frustrated, I went outside and sat on the beach after taking a quick gulp of energon from the energon dispenser in the main room and then I watched the waves splash against the shore of the island for a while until Optimus Prime came out to sit with me while the sun came up.

"Beautiful isn't it?" my leader asked.

I turned to him. "Yes it is and good morning to you too sir." I said, sighing as I tried to gather my thoughts together.

"Peaches, Jolt told me that you awoke early and that you were upset when he saw you; I know that it is about what happened yesterday more likely than not." Optimus told me.

"I still don't want to talk about it." I insisted, trying to cover up everything with anger.

"Your attacker has been dishonorably discharged from NEST and is being transported back to the United States as we speak." he explained.

"Thank God for that." I said, sighing with relief. "It's just that I feel freaking defiled even though I'm technically short of being that since you intervened." Only I didn't say "freaking".

Optimus put a hand on my shoulder. "I know it will be hard to deal with this Peaches but know that you are not alone." he said to me.

"I know; I just wish that I could feel more comfortable with myself. Getting used to being an alien robot is no piece of cake." I commented, feeling at the least a little better.

Optimus patted me on the back, a reassurance that things would get better as I got more used to not only being a different species and the way NEST worked but they would still get better even when I felt worse than anyone else in the world.

I did the human schoolwork I had to do before training with Ironhide. I wasn't allowed to train with the human soldiers yet but would be after I turned 18 in human years in June 2010. Right now though, it was still early March and I found myself not missing the snow and cold back home and I still had things to do. I had another history lesson with Optimus as well as another medical lesson from Ratchet then I went to shower in my robot mode for the first time. I came to the wash racks and found Arcee already there.

"Hello Peaches, do you need any help?" she asked.

"Well yes; I could use help with washing my back." I admitted as I went in after her.

Arcee turned the water on and gave me the soap; taking a shower like this wasn't that much different from taking one as a human other than having to scrub under my armor to get dirt out of there. I actually felt more comfortable with it than i had thought I would be when i first arrived on base.

Once Arcee and I were done, we turned off the water and dried off with towels, which we then put in laundry hamper so that they could be washed later; apparently, Skids and Mudflap could clean said towels really well which I guess was something considering that they always seemed useless the rest of the time when not on the battlefield, at least according to Sideswipe when I asked him later that evening.

(Optimus Prime's POV)

It took almost 2 weeks of therapy for Peaches to move past the incident that had happened but she seemed to be doing better overall, including her training. That was when it was decided she would train off base if only for a day or 2.

"We will fly to Washington D.C. while Chromia will fly to New Jersey in her vehicle mode on a separate aircraft. This is to avoid any Decepticons interrupting the training you will have to do" I explained to the Pretender. "We will then drive to her location and meet her."

"Are you sure I can do this kind of training?" Peaches asked; she had not used her human form after nearly being assaulted 2 weeks before but was slowly using it as much as she used her robot mode.

"I have faith that you will be able to handle it." I reassured her as she transformed into her human form and packed clothing for a few days, specifically 2 outfits of civilian clothes and a NEST uniform. She was also allowed to take a book to read on the plane as well has her iPod so that she could listen to music in addition to some money for food for when we were on the highway.

Peaches smiled a bit. "Let's see here; I've packed, I've showered, I've eaten something and I've used the bathroom. I think I'm ready to go." she announced.

I drove onto the cargo plane in vehicle mode while Peaches sat in a seat not too far from the exit in case we had to bail out at any point; other than the pilot and co-pilot, we were the only ones traveling in said plane and soon the young femme was reading a book she had read often when being raised as a human.

"What? I like Pippi Longstocking; I always wanted to be like her just a bit." Peaches explained when she noticed me staring at her as she read.

"I am not going to judge you by what you read; I was just surprised that you still read books in a time when data is stored digitally more often than not." I replied.

"Well, there's nothing like a good book and I got my love of said books from watching _Reading Rainbow_. Also my human parents didn't want me to hog the computer and play games on it all the time" she said.

I chuckled at this. "That is completely understandable." I told her as I onlined my holoform and sat it on a seat next to her.

"No way, you can make a hologram of a human person to use when you're in vehicle mode?" Peaches was shocked.

"Actually, it is called a holoform." I explained. "It is very useful when having to go out in public and it can experience most of the things that an actual human does."

"That's cool." the Pretender said before yawning and putting her book back in her backpack before falling into recharge. I offlined my holoform and did the same thing; hopefully, the Capitol Beltway near Washington D.C. and the New Jersey Turnpike would be easier to deal with than the Decepticons...


	5. Chapter 5

Becoming an Autobot chapter 5

(Peaches' POV)

We landed in D.C. at about 4:00 a.m. I woke up about 2 hours later to find myself in the bed at the back of Optimus Prime's truck mode; apparently he had moved me there before driving off of the plane when we had landed. He had parked in a parking lot near the Pentagon City Mall.

"Good morning Peaches." Optimus said. "Did you recharge well?"

"I did for the most part." I answered truthfully. "Just a bit nervous about meeting up with Chromia."

"Chromia does not bite." he reassured me. "she is however as tough as Ironhide."

That made me worry again but I put it aside; I wasn't going to meet up with her until that night or the next morning anyway.

Optimus then drove to Denny's when I told him I wanted to stop there for breakfast; I didn't want to go into the restaurant by myself but since at this point, Autobots' holoforms couldn't eat food I thought that I would have to. That wasn't the case though since my leader turned on his human holofrom and walked in with me. He wouldn't order anything to eat but he would sit with me so that no human guys would give me unwanted attention.

I had pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and orange juice. After I had used the bathroom, I left a tip for the waiter before going back out to Optimus Prime's alt mode; he turned off his holoform when he was sure nobody was looking and I climbed back into the front seat. Finally we headed on our way again, dealing with the morning traffic before finally getting into Maryland and then Pennsylvania.

(Optimus Prime's POV)

Since it was not summer vacation, the only humans on the roadways were either going to work or school or were truck drivers although there were a few people with either recreational vehicles or trailers. I focused on the traffic as we continued driving to New Jersey that is until a truck driver on the right side of me honked his horn. Then I heard giggling from Peaches before she explained that some humans liked to make truckers honk their horns when that was not needed.

I told the Pretender "I would appreciate it if you did not do that again; I need to focus on where we are going. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Peaches replied, before reading the signs that we were passing.

It was another 4 hours before Peaches was hungry enough for lunch. I stopped at a McDonald's that was about an hour away from the New York state line so that she could eat. She simply got herself chicken nuggets, fries and lemonade and I sat down next to her, not watching her eat but keeping an optic out for Decepticons. When she was done eating, she walked back out to where I was parked. It was now about 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time so we would be able to meet up with Chromia that evening.

"Optimus, you don't mind if I sleep in the back for a while do you?" she asked.

"I do not mind at all Peaches; I will keep my holoform on to avoid anyone getting suspicious. Rest will do you some good since Chromia will make you train hard." I replied.

"Wake me up when it's time for me to eat supper please." Peaches yawned and went to the bed in the back of my truck cab so that she could recharge. Once she had started a recharge cycle, I continued driving and hoping that we would get to our destination with no Decepticons interrupting us.

Author's note: Yes, it's a little short and I don't know what to put for the next chapter. Hopefully I will get some ideas soon.


	6. Chapter 6

Becoming an Autobot chapter 6

(Peaches' POV)

It was about 9:00 p.m. when we met up with Chromia; I was nervous about being left with her for 2 days but Optimus assured me again that I would be fine.

"I'll keep an optic sensor on her." Chromia assured him and then turned to me. "You better get all the rest that you can, kid. Tomorrow you're working hard, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." I replied, trying not to let my nervousness show.

Optimus was soon long gone on another plane back to Diego Garcia; this is going to be a long 2 days, I thought to myself as I got in a sleeping bag after changing into a NEST uniform.

The very next morning, Chromia woke me up at 5:00 a.m. to start my training. I guess I didn't mind since all I wanted to do was prove that I could handle it. The first thing I did was shove some trail mix in my mouth and then Chromia had me do push ups, 60 of them to be exact.

"Come on kid! You're only halfway done with them!" she shouted to me when I collapsed after doing 30 push ups.

I got up and completed said push ups and then transformed into my robot mode; I was practicing hand to hand combat with Ironhide's sparkmate now and wasn't very good at it so far. I don't know if Chromia wanted to give up on me or not but I was just about ready to do so. It was going to be a very, very long day...

"Seriously kid, you can't keep making the same mistakes over and over." Chromia told me.

I knew she was right but wasn't sure what to try differently; if I made those mistakes on the battlefield, I would be killed before one could say the names of all the first 13 Primes really fast. I then tried to strike at her weak spot again and succeeded.

The blue femme told me "You're finally getting it."

I was smiling on the inside as we continued our training session and soon I was allowed to eat some more trail mix for supper. Thank goodness I only had tomorrow before I could go back to Diego Garcia...

(Optimus Prime's POV)

When Chromia and Peaches returned to base, the former gave me a good report about the latter despite the mistakes that the latter had made.

"She will learn eventually." I stated. "For now though, she must continue with her human school work and her lessons on Cybertronian culture for today."

I returned to my normal duties after Peaches' history lesson and couldn't help but wonder if she would ever learn fast enough to become an Autobot.

"She will learn Optimus." Elita One said reassuringly.

I do not know whether my sparkmate knew it or not but I began to feel a bit fatherly towards Peaches, as inappropriate as it seemed at the time. What is wrong with me, I wondered, very confused about it as I went into recharge that night.

It was the next morning when I found out that Peaches had been having nightmares. Jolt had told me everything. "I don't know if her nightmares are prophetic or not but I am worried about her and if she'll be able to focus; apparently it's been happening to her the last few nights." the blue medic informed me.

"I will see if I can make time to talk to Peaches." I assured him, wishing that today's meeting with Director Galloway wouldn't be so long...


	7. Chapter 7

Becoming an Autobot chapter 7

(Peaches' POV)

The meeting with Director Galloway went fine, surprisingly enough. I was tempted to yell at him for insulting my human parents' decision to raise me and lie about me being a kid they adopted legally but as it was, I didn't want to lose my temper in front of Optimus Prime.

"I can't believe he said that I shouldn't be an Autobot just because I don't have a vehicle alternate mode." I complained afterwards as Jolt and I got some energon.

"Just ignore him and don't let him get to you." The blue medic in training told me as he sat down on an Autobot-sized sofa next to me.

Several of the humans who were part of NEST also reassured me that I would be fine and I brushed it off; it wasn't worth it worrying over what just one person said. I sipped my energon and then excused myself to go do some more of my human schoolwork. I still have no idea why everyone wanted me to graduate human high school even though I found out I wasn't human but I never thought to ask anyone then or now. That's something I will have to do someday.

Later on, I was sitting in the beach, something I hadn't gotten a chance to do since my human parents had returned home. Tempting as it was, I couldn't swim to run away from the base since the salt water would screw up my systems. I immediately wondered if any other Autobots had ever tried to run away and be branded deserters as a result but I was afraid to ask. Eventually I decided to go inside; I needed my rest for the next day anyhow and I had a sickening feeling that things would start going horribly...

My bad day started when I woke up; I had a nightmare again, the same one I had told Jolt about before when I had it, and then I tripped over some human soldiers or rather almost did, falling on my face in the process and I was late to my history lesson with Optimus.

"Sorry." I ran in 2 minutes late and said this as I sat down.

Optimus didn't seem to mind though; he just started the lesson and I was listening and writing down notes since I had now learned enough Cybertronian to be able to write it. Speaking it was a different story and I hadn't done so that much yet; Elita was going to help me with that later in the day after I trained with Ironhide...

(Optimus's POV)

I could tell that Peaches' day was not going so well; she came in to the rec room to have energon, having discovered hair in her human food and being unwilling to eat it. She also hadn't gotten to train with Ironhide or Chromia despite needing it as they had both been sent on a mission so thus she was studying and then simply walking outside on Ratchet's insistence since he wanted her to keep herself "in shape" as humans put it.

I could not go out despite the nice weather and sat in my office doing paperwork, my least favorite thing about working with humans. There was not as much said paperwork as there usually was at least so that made me feel less overwhelmed. The duties of being a leader are difficult regardless of that fact and it was something I knew all too well.

I then heard Major Lennox knocking on my office door, as all Cybertronians have a greater range of hearing than most other species, and got up to answer it. "Yes Major Lennox, is something the matter?"

"Well, a lot of things are. Peaches locked herself in her quarters and isn't responding to anything and Ironhide's guarding the Chevy twins in the brig so he can't leave them to get her out." he explained, trying not to panic. "Elita One was the last one to see her about an hour ago when she had Peaches practicing speaking Cybertronian.

I immediately got up and went with Lennox to Peaches' quarters; the door was in fact locked so I overrode the lock to find the young Pretender staring at the wall and sitting still.

"Peaches, is there anything that's the matter?" I asked.

"Other than being homesick and accidentally screwing up a simple sentence by accidentally insulting Elita and having a bad enough day already, nothing." Peaches answered angrily.

I commed Elita and asked her :What was it that you were having Peaches say?:

:She was practicing asking "may I have some energon" but accidentally said "your creators weren't bonded" and when I informed her of the mistake, she ran off extremely upset. I know she did not mean to insult me though she still has to make a formal apology.: she replied.

:I will inform her and attempt to get her to calm down. Optimus out.: I said before turning to Peaches and asking her exactly what happened.

She explained what things had happened to make her day horrible and apologized for overreacting. "I don't know if it will even be worth me learning any more thins that I absolutely have to know." she admitted.

"Peaches, you certainly are worth it." I assured her. "First things first though is that I want you to apologize to Elita One both for the accidental insult and for running off before your lesson with her was over and then we'll see if we can't make tonight better than today was. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Peaches answered.

After she had made the formal apology to my sparkmate and had been forgiven, the young Pretender finally asked using correct Cybertronian "May I have some energon please Commanders?"

I couldn't help but smile proudly as I replied "yes, you may have some energon."

Indeed that night and the next several weeks went mostly well for Peaches; she had begun learning more of what she needed to although like others, she still made mistakes here and there and did eventually tell me of her nightmare which was about the Decepticons destroying everyone. I assured her that particular nightmare would not come true although for her, it did partially come true on the day that Starscream killed her human parents...


	8. Chapter 8

Becoming an Autobot chapter 8

(Peaches' POV)

When it came to be June, I had gone to the next levels of my training and had completed and graduated from human high school. Just yesterday had been my birthday and my human parents had called to say that they loved me.

"I love you too." I told them; it was the last thing I had ever told them and looking back on what happened afterwards, I am very glad that I did tell them that before they had been killed.

It was Ironhide who broke the news late the next day; Starscream had murdered my parents while on a high-grade energon fueled rampage through my hometown. I couldn't believe what I had heard and wasn't even sure how to react. I knew he was telling the truth no doubt about that but I was shocked that it happened despite knowing that Decepticons hated humans.

I ran into my room and locked myself in there for the rest of the day. I just didn't want anyone talking to me. Nobody came and bothered me that day but I did come out the next day and at least try to act normally but I just couldn't. I did not consume any energon or human food and in fact, I did not transform into my altmode. I did try to pay attention when Ironhide and Chromia were training me and when I was sparring with Arcee but it was too hard. It was when I decided not to go to lunch after I had gotten my history lesson from Optimus that he decided to take matters into his own hands.

(Optimus Prime's POV)

I did not know whether Peaches blamed any of us for the deaths of her parents but I knew that she was not in any fit state to do any other duties today. "Peaches, follow me." I ordered her.

The Pretender followed me, very reluctantly I might add, until we were on the beach. We both stood there and I waited for Peaches to say something.

"I don't think you can help me Optimus." Peaches told me, making it obvious that she did indeed need help with the grieving process.

I really did wish that I could have saved her human parents in time but one can not change the past. They must do what is necessary to get through the grieving process and try to make the future the best that they can. "Peaches, I may not know exactly what you are going through circumstance-wise but I have dealt with grief and the loss of life too many times to be counted. I am here to listen if you wish to talk not as your commanding officer, but as a friend." I told her, trying to reassure her as best I could.

She was surprised to hear me say that, at least that was the impression I got, and began telling me several things that she did not wish to keep bottled up as the humans would put it. I would do what I could to help Peaches although it might not have been a lot...

Author's note: so sorry about taking so long with this; I am taking a summer class at the moment and will be preparing to see my older sister as I am flying out to visit her, my aunt, uncle and cousin who live in the Seattle area so updates probably won't be happening for a while.


End file.
